40 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



MKS. AXTELL HAS A WORD TO SAY 

 TO G. W. DEMAREE. 



I like to read Brother Demaree's ar- 

 ticles on bee culture because he writes 

 like a man of broad experience and 

 good sense. 



I am sure he would not intentionally 

 gave a wrong light to another's expi ess- 

 ions in the Api ; but if he will turn to 

 my article in the January number of the 

 Api, page 20, near the middle of tlie ar- 

 ticle (I suppose he refers to that article) 

 and read it again, he will see that he did 

 not quote my words verbatim on feeding 

 bees, when he makes me say "feed sugar 

 and don't care who knows it." He will 

 see that I said instead, ''if we do what is 

 right and f^^ed no sugar that will ever 

 get into the sections, we need not trouble 

 ourselves what others say. The last 

 part of that sentence does not sound 

 as if "we meant don't care who knows 

 it." But years ago it used to trouble 

 us very much because we had to feed. 

 We would let our bees run low for food, 

 consequently but httle and sometimes 

 no brood would be found in the hives 

 early in May, so that often we did not 

 have colonies to get the while clover 

 honey in June, and by the time many 

 of the colonies got built up strong, 

 ready for the sections, the spring honey 

 harvest would be over. We set our- 

 selves positive almost against sugai feed- 

 ing. 



We would go to the dealers in the 

 little towns around and bring home the 

 honey we had supplied them with to 

 sell, to feed back to our bees, and all 

 we could gather up at home even if it 

 were nice section honey, rather than 

 feed sugar, also work our hives through 

 and through, equalizing the honey in 

 the hives until all colonies would be out. 

 Sometin)eswe would get them through 

 until they began to gather, and then 

 again they would be clean out a month 

 before the honey harvest. Two hundred 

 and fifty colonies with more than one- 

 half a pound per colony, and some col- 

 onies clean out. Now, Brother D., what 

 would you do under such circumstances ? 



Wouldn't you feed your bees ? I don't 

 believe there are any who read this but 



would feed if they knew the condition of \ 



their colonies. Our neighbors knew we • 



fed under such circumstances, and I don't J 



think we sell sugared honey. Even j 



our commission merchant, to whom we ; 



ship our honey in Chicago iias sent us \ 

 sugar to feed out bees several times, 

 and I don't think they have the least 



idea that any of it goes into sections. ■ 



We always stop feeding just as soon / | 



as bees can get a living. ; 



^Vhen can one particle of the syrup I 



get into the sections if feeding is stopped I 



just as soon as the bees can get enough : 



to live on from the flowers, if we feed j 



only what is used up from day to day ? j 



Bees when fed regularly start and fill their I 



hives full of brood, but if the supply i 



of food is cut off before they could ' 

 gather from the flowers, all old bee- . 



keepers know what the result would be. | 



I believe in feeding liberally, but not in ] 

 such quantities as it would be stored in 



the sections. We do not extract much J 



honey now. Bees do not store honey ! 



in sections until they have first filled I 



their brood combs. j 



Tlie spring of 1890 we fed three bar- ■ 



rels of sorghum s)rup that was very ! 

 dark. That spring we got about i ,500 

 lbs. nice white clover houey. I do not 

 think there was one section that showed 



any da'k honey in it. I 



Roseville, III. Mrs. L. C. Axiell. 



ONE-BANDEU BEES. 



The marked copy of the Api for Feb- 

 ruary has reached me. On page 27, 

 you mention that I have asserted that 

 I never saw a one-b?nded bee, and 

 suggest that if I had imported queens 

 and would test them, I should find plen- 

 ty of workers that have but one yellow 

 band. 



For once you have made a mistake. 

 I have been for some time importing 

 queens directly from Italy, and testing 

 them. 



Very often the half of the queens in 

 my apiary are imported queens ; these 



